Vigil In The Rain
Jose Raúl Cruz, an unarmed teenager, was shot and killed by an off-duty police officer in Farmers Branch, near Dallas, in March of 2016. On the way to an open mic event, I drove past the candlelight vigil his family and friends were holding. It was as close as I’d ever been to the senseless gun violence that plagues our country.
I can see the dark stained pavement; the rain pounds down; it don’t wash clean
A crowd of people just staring, feels like they’re looking right at me
I just keep on driving, wipers’ rhythm the only sound
I notice all those candles, somehow still burning, there on the ground
I’d read the story in the paper, early this week
Facts, names and places - didn’t mean that much to me
Now, seeing all those faces, feel my eyes kinda burn
I turn on some distraction; music starts to play; my mind just churns
It just seems so pointless, that vigil in the rain
It’s not like those candles will bring him back again
We already know the story - a boy killed by some hothead with a gun
So they stand out on that corner and bleed on everyone
I reach my destination - after work meet-up, well underway
They’re all drinking and talking; me, ain’t got much to say
So I stare out the window, no reason to pretend
My mind keeps drifting back there, to those haunted faces in the wind
The paper said he was doing something foolish; I’d done as much in my youth
I told myself “there but for fortune”, but I’m not sure those words hold much truth
I know it must feel pointless, that vigil in the rain
It’s not like those candles will bring him back again
But all those broken faces, they’re rooted in my brain
So too, that kid, his story, that vigil in the rain
That vigil in the rain